Marseille and Toulon are both cities of the sea, on the mid-Mediterranean coast. The sea brought them power and disaster, the wealth of commerce and the misery of piracy and disease. — Throughout their histories, the two ci... more &raquoties shared the ugliness of the penal settlements, the beauty of Pierre Puget's artistic contributions, the calamity of the great plague, the rigours of the German occupation, and finally the affluence and prosperity of the post-war years.

Today they are popular tourist destinations providing the local fish dish bouillabaisse.

And the sea provides the perfect location for training courses in deep-sea saturation diving.

Greek Marseille and its legendary foundations; the carnival of Marseille

The Roman siege of Massilia and its final defeat by Rome

Origins of Toulon and the fortress of Château d'If

Marseille galleys, its arsenal and the chiourme

Arsenal transferred to Toulon; its penal settlement is the bagne

Art of Pierre Puget and the Vieille Charité; Fort St Nicholas and Fort St John